Monday, January 28, 2019

Gloves - Impact Protection Basics


Hand protection (Impact)
No glove provides complete protection against “crushing” forces.  There is no substitute for operator training and proper safeguarding.  High visibility gloves and machinery can improve awareness.  Properly designed, and applied, impact protection can limit and reduce hand injuries related to objects striking hands and hands striking objects.

Comfort First - Studies have confirmed that the comfort level of a pair of gloves directly affects a worker's willingness to wear the gloves.  It may seem counter-intuitive, but first and foremost look for a glove that is comfortable. Stiff and bulky gloves will never be worn by workers in the field or they will have to take them off to properly do their job, and that is when they will get injured.





Construction / Design
Impact gloves should have coverage in all the right areas.  Back of hand, palm, fingertips and thumbs should be protected where required.  Large blocks of rubber however limit flexibility.  Plenty of “flex points” should be provided.

When selecting impact-resistant gloves, how the Thermoplastic Rubber (TPR) is affixed to the glove matters a lot. Try picking and pulling at the TPR, if it peels even slightly, it won’t hold up in the field. Most anti-impact welding gloves have TPR sewn on with Kevlar or sonic welding.

Palm-coated anti-impact gloves are now available; the advantage of these is they are generally less expensive and provide better dexterity.  A mechanic’s style typically offers more protection and durability but sacrifices dexterity.


Standards
At the time of this writing standards are still being established and adopted.
The current standard specifies three performance levels that offer a numerical representation for the impact protection a glove offers, with the lowest protection rated as Level 1 and the highest as Level 3. The overall performance level of a glove reflects the lowest performance level recorded. For instance, if the fingers and thumb meet Level 1 but the knuckles meet Level 2, the glove still will be rated as Performance Level 1. The glove will be marked with a pictogram to identify its performance level, which must be “visible and legible throughout its normal useful life.”

ANSI/ISEA 138 is specifically designed for industrial gloves and the special protection they offer to workers. Whereas EN 388 covers the knuckles, ANSI/ISEA 138 covers knuckles and fingers, which is critical for industrial glove users whose fingers are frequently at risk. The oil and gas sector, which is a large user of impact-protection gloves, has collected figures through the International Association of Drilling Contractors showing that, in 2016, fingers remained the most vulnerable part of the body in terms of both lost time and recordable injuries.


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